


Dreams and Rivalry

by Moonlightflower



Series: The Origins of the Piston Peak Air Attack team [7]
Category: Cars (Movies), Planes (Movies)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Cheesy, Childishness, Enemies to Friends, F/M, First Meetings, Fluff, Laughter, Pickup Lines, Ridiculous, Rivalry, somewhat tragic backstory (though still a ride in fluffy clouds compared to my last one)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-11-28 12:51:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20966861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonlightflower/pseuds/Moonlightflower
Summary: It is Pinecone and Avalanche's turn to head to Piston Peak. Though things might not go quite as they expected, especially not when they find themsleves as rivals for the same position...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, here I am again! I can't believe this is the second last origin story already... I had loads of funn with this one!
> 
> Hope you all enjoy :)
> 
> Also, Rachel, this one's for you! (You're kind of the reason this exists the way it does) XD

_ ‘Having dreams is important. It is an essential part of every person and it defines them. And if there is even the slightest chance of fulfilling that dream, one has to try everything in their might to make it come true.’  _

Avalanche’s maker always used to tell him that. Always, whenever he was feeling down or discouraged or felt less for his disability. His giver had never called it that, saying that the fact that Avalanche couldn’t say anything without yelling didn’t make him any less of a person and that he could do anything if he put his mind to it. Well, Avalanche had taken their advice and had put his mind to his dream and nothing else. And there was only one dream he had, ever since he could remember: He had wanted to be a firefighter! A Smokejumper that went right into the danger zone and could help where danger existed first hand. He had always admired the mechanisms who got the chance to do that, be so close to peril and defeat it! 

Finding an academy that would accept him despite his disability had been difficult but with every denial Avalanche’s resolve had only grown stronger. He had wanted to be a Smokejumper and if he had to search the entire planet to get trained! Eventually, he had managed to get in at an academy and once he was there he had found that he was surprisingly good at what he was doing. Sure, his constant yelling had grated on everyone's nerves and he hadn’t had any friends but his performance during the many exercises had been solidly improving every time and even though his instructor hadn’t liked him even he’d had to admit that Avalanche was one of his better students. 

Throughout his life, Avalanche had readily been absorbing any and all information that had even remotely been related to firefighting and he hadn’t stopped during his time at the academy, though his focus had shifted onto different teams and districts that he’d wanted to maybe apply to one day. So when the catastrophe at Piston Peak had happened and had been all over the news, Avalanche had followed the story as closely as possible. He had never been good with emotions but with every report he read or saw his core had felt a little heavier until he had decided that he wanted to help them. They had lost so many people and if Avalanche knew one thing it was the feeling of being alone, which he had been sure all of the remaining team members had to be feeling. And he had wanted to go there, make it better, help them overcome this tragedy by any means he had. So he had sent in his application as soon as he had graduated, even if he hadn’t really thought something would come of it. Good grades or not, his disability was still considered a liability by many and Piston Peak was prestigious in so many ways, in other words, not exactly the place for diversity. When he had received a letter not a week later thanking him for wanting to join them and apologizing that they didn’t have the financial means to hire him at the moment, Avalanche had already made his decision. It was going to be Piston Peak or nothing else. 

_ I can wait. _

And maybe it was foolish but Avalanche had never once doubted the sincerity of the letter. Something about it had made him believe that it was an honest apology and not a cheap lie to not have to hire him. And since Avalanche was not one to give up easily, if at all, he had written a reply, stating that he was sorry to hear that but understood their situation and offering that they could always come back to him once they could hire again. Feeling a little bold, he had added that he would be waiting. On his way to the post office, he had been feeling giddy with excitement, even though he hadn’t really had much to be excited about. But at least he had a chance of his dream coming true and now that it was within reach he had simply forgotten to focus on the here and now.

Which brought him to where he currently was: Knocked to the floor with an aching forehead and a red raketool-digger in front of him that looked just about as pained as he felt.

“Ow…”

She had a lovely voice, Avalanche noticed. For a moment he got lost in it, his core pounding in sync with his throbbing head and before he had control over his mouth he found himself saying one of the cheesiest pickup lines he knew.

“CAN I FOLLOW YOU WHERE YOU’RE GOING RIGHT NOW? CAUSE MY PARENTS ALWAYS TOLD ME TO FOLLOW MY DREAMS!”

He wasn’t even halfway through the sentence when he remembered that he should probably apologize for running her over first and quickly added an apology as an afterthought.

“SORRY FOR RUNNING INTO YOU! I WASN’T PAYING ATTENTION.”

The raketool-digger flinched at his yelling for a moment though judging from her even more pained expression it was more because of the onslaught of noise than the seeming lack of manners on Avalanche’s side. When the meaning of his first words seemed to register though, the look turned unimpressed and morphed into a mix of a withering glare and a disbelieving stare that really just made her look nonplussed and confused. Trying to find a way to amend the situation, Avalanche spotted the two letters that were now lying on the floor, one of them his own. As he went to pick them up to hand the other her letter back he noticed the address written on it. 

Piston Peak Air Attack.

_ Oh… _

It took him all of two seconds to figure out the highly unlikely scenario that was happening here.

“ARE YOU APPLYING FOR PISTON PEAK TOO?”

He couldn’t quite decide whether the prospect should make him excited or competitive.

“That’s none of your business, give me that!”

By the way her eyes had narrowed, Avalanche got the feeling that this was going to be competitive. Eyeing the other a little more closely he took in all her features, noticing how she was the perfect built for a Smokejumper.

_ Oh no you don’t! That position is mine, as soon as it’s available! _

_ _

The moment he thought it he could see a similar determination blitz through the other’s eyes and as if on cue both scrambled up from the floor, trying to outdrive each other to the mailbox while simultaneously keeping the other from reaching it. Avalanche nearly laughed at the rush of adrenalin rushing through him. He hadn’t felt this alive in quite some time.

_ Maybe a little rivalry will be good for me.  _

_ _

With a mischievous glint in his eyes, he drove a sharp curve, cutting the raketool-digger off in her tracks and throwing his letter into the mailbox first with a triumphant shout.

_ _

_ Besides, Piston Peak is my dream.  _

_ _

The raketool-digger didn’t seem any less determined as she tried to duck around Avalanche who was playfully blocking her access to the mailbox.

_ _

_ And I will see my dream come true! _


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it continues ;) 
> 
> Enjoy :)

Pinecone sighed. The day had been exhausting and she still had to go shopping and clean up her landlord’s flat before he got home from work. She sometimes got the feeling he was deliberately making a mess of it, just so she would have a hard time cleaning it up. At first, she had thought him kind, giving her a room even though she couldn’t afford the rent and offering her to clean to make up for the missing money. But now she suspected it had more to do with him getting off on tormenting people who had it worse than him rather than any kindness. 

_ It’s a small miracle he didn’t come onto me yet… _

_ _

She knew it was only a matter of time until that would happen. She knew his type and she knew very well that there was no avoiding it completely. All she could do was to suck it up and start looking for another place she could afford, knowing full well it wasn’t likely she would find any. It had taken her months to come across her current arrangement as it was.

With another sigh she let her eyes fall shut and allowed her mind to wander, if only for a few seconds. She had been 10 when she had been adopted and had been 170 when her caretaker had passed away in a road accident. Since then she had been on her own, doing what she had to to get by. The first year had been the hardest, after that the constant changing of low-paid jobs that only used limited contracts and the resulting instability became routine. She had stopped fighting it long ago and had simply accepted that she couldn’t change where she came from. It didn’t mean that she didn’t dream though.

Among her few personal possessions she had an old photograph of a team of firefighters from a station called ‘Piston Peak Air Attack’. It had been in the wrinkles of the blanket that she had been found in at the orphanage’s door. To this day she didn’t know if it had been deliberate or on accident, she didn’t even know if any of the people shown in the picture were her creators, or related to them, or if they even had anything to do with them at all. For all she knew, the picture could have been from a newspaper and one of her creators had cut it out for a photo collage or something. She had given up on the picture being a clue to her past long ago. Her caretaker had been everything to her that a child could have ever wanted and she had been happy growing up. But now she was alone and that picture was all she had left. And even though it was stupid, she had followed where it lead. She had worked years after years to save for the books and had taught herself whatever she could. She had applied to every scholarship she could dig up and hadn’t been above using her past to get a pity bonus. It wasn’t how she wanted to get into an academy, but it was a way and since she had turned 170 she had learned to use any opportunity presented to her because if she hesitated it would be lost. And so she had gotten in, after years of waiting and dreaming and almost losing hope.

And then everything had changed. Despite her background, at the academy, she had been just another student, no less and no more. And with the constant threat of becoming unemployed or homeless no longer hanging over her head, she had quickly learned to enjoy life again. And not only life, but the job that had given her this opportunity as well. Among all the things she learned during her academy time, the skills of hoping, of not giving up and winning even against impossible odds were what she treasured the most. And now that she was so close, she wasn’t going to give up.

For a moment the face of the bulldozer that she had bumped into a few weeks back when she had sent her application letter flickered across her mind. Pinecone quickly shook her head to clear the image and opened her eyes again, finding herself in front of her favorite convenience store. She had driven there on instinct. It had almost taken her an hour to get past the other and actually throw her letter into the mailbox. It had been annoying, to say the least, not to mention his constant flirting grating on her nerves.

_ Oh, but I will not lose to him! You want to play dirty, prepare for a mud bath! _

_ _

If she knew one thing, it was rivalry. The odd little jobs she managed to get always had a row of other applicants in similar situations to hers. Oh yes, Pinecone was no stranger to rivalry and she was going to win this one. And if he wanted to play dirty by flirting, she could easily one-up him in that field. Grinning to herself she snatched a cart and began searching the isles for what she needed. She could never get much, so her shopping list was always carefully calculated and she never strayed away from it. Just as she was entering the isle for spices, she saw a blur of yellow and orange coming towards her and before she could react she found herself knocked to the ground, a bulldozer grinning sheepishly on top of her, visibly about to apologize until his eyes lit up with recognition.

“WAIT A MINUTE…”

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!”

“NICE TO MEET YOU, I’M AVALANCHE AND YOU ARE… GORGEOUS!”

“Excuse me?!”

_ This guy can’t be serious… _

_ _

“DO YOU LIKE SALES? BECAUSE YOU’RE LOOKING AT A GOOD ONE, PANELS ARE 100% OFF AT MY PLACE.”

That one made her laugh. She couldn’t help it, it was just so creatively ridiculous and the bulldozer – Avalanche – had said it with such a serious expression that she wasn’t sure if he wasn’t actually serious about getting her panels off and her into his sleepingmat.

_ Well, if that’s your goal then you’re awful at it. Two can play at that game… _

_ _

“If I had a garden I’d put your tulips and my tulips together.”

She tried her level best not to snort at the mix of confusion, elation and mischief that flitted over Avalanche’s face as she actually replied. The mischief turned into a smirk as the bulldozer pulled her back up on her tires before taking a little bow. 

“DO YOU BELIEVE IN LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT OR SHOULD I BUMP INTO YOU AGAIN?”

That was a low one and Pinecone could only shake her head at his nerve. She was about to turn around to skip the spices when she noticed the glint in his eye, daring her to one-up him.

_ Oh, you want a battle? Prepare to go down! _

_ _

It seemed like neither of them was going to address the little rivalry that had sparked into existence between them directly but Pinecone figured a battle to see who could annoy the other into giving up first, using pick-up lines of all things, was a decent enough replacement for openly fighting about the position.

_ You won’t know what hit you! _

_ _

“You’re so sweet, you’re giving me a toothache…”

“OH YEAH? WELL, YOU’RE SO HOT YOU’RE MAKING ME THIRSTY!”

“Are you a can of oil? Because you’re looking soda-licious.”

“IF YOU WERE A VEGETABLE, YOU’D BE A CUTECUMBER!”

Just as she was about to retort that if he was a fruit, he’d be a fineapple, they got very rudely interrupted by the store’s manager who looked less than amused.

“Get a room you two, before I call the police for public indecency!”

Avalanche snorted and Pinecone giggled. Her face was beet red and she was mortified, she had completely forgotten that they were in a public setting where anybody could hear them. And that was just it, he had managed to sweep her along and make her forget her surroundings. That in itself was rather ridiculous, it hadn’t happened to her in years, but more importantly, he had instantly transported her back into that easy-going world she had experienced at the academy. And even though she really, really didn’t want to, Pinecone was loving it. She really shouldn’t be taking this so lightly, she needed this store’s cheap prices to afford her meals and couldn’t risk a ban but for once she found that she just didn’t care. And it was a great feeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think of Pinecone's backstory?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we get Avalanche again. And time skips becuase, why not? We're also nearing a solution ;)

Three years.

It had taken three years for the letter to come.

But that didn’t matter. As Avalanche held it close to his chest he nearly cried. 

‘I know it has been years and I am well aware that your offer is probably no longer standing, but since you did apply to our station first I wanted to let you know that we have the means to hire now and ask if you still want the job. It is yours if you still do.

Sincerely, Chief Ranger’

That was only the last paragraph but it was so personal compared to any of the usual official acceptance letters that Avalanche was overcome with emotion as he read it.

A lot had happened in those three years of waiting. He had quickly settled into a new routine after finishing his time at the academy and waiting for a reply from Piston Peak. He had moved out of his creators’ home and had started to help out in the local neighborhood, whenever there was anybody who needed help. It had been nearly a year in which he had often bumped into the raketooldigger around town, keeping up their ridiculous flirting game in those little moments. He had just gotten used to seeing her every once in a while and had started to actually look forward to it, when she had suddenly appeared in his neighborhood, moving into one of the smaller flats and looking all but broken. It was then that Avalanche had learned her name. Pinecone. He hadn’t dared asking why she had looked so sad, but he had offered carrying her belongings up to the flat and she hadn’t been in a state to refuse him. It had been the first time that neither of them had tried to one-up another. After so long of doing just that, it had almost been weird. 

Avalanche had almost hoped it would stay like that but after a while of seemingly avoiding the outside world altogether, Pinecone had been back to normal and their relationship had been reduced to playful flirting again, though it had long since lost the bite and had started to become more of a friendly game. They had settled into a routine like that, playing when they met, living on without each other when they didn’t. After the second year had passed the rivalry had been more a farce than anything. At some point both of them had simply accepted that in the end, it wasn’t on their tires, they couldn’t decide it. And with the third year passing and no reply, they had both started to simply stop fighting. They had never once stopped hoping, Avalanche had seen it in her eyes and had known it was true for himself, but at some point, he had stopped believing.

So when the letter had come, after all this time, he’d been elated. For all of ten seconds that is, until he’d remembered that that likely meant Pinecone hadn’t gotten accepted. The thought almost made him sad. He had no clue about her reasons to stick around for so long, but the fact that she had meant that Piston Peak was as important to her as it was to him. And now that he was standing at the train station, belongings packed and waiting for the train to his future to arrive, he almost felt a little sad that he probably wouldn’t see her again.

_ I quite liked her… She’s nice. I just wish we could have gotten to know each other a little better. Maybe under different circumstances, we even could have been friends. _

The arrival of the train scattered his slightly guilt-stricken thinking process and left him with the feeling of anticipation that slowly started to bubble up inside him.

_ This is really happening! I’m going to Piston Peak! _

Just as he was getting on board he felt somebody knocking into him from behind, pushing him into the opposite door.

“Oh Chrysler, sorry! I thought I was going to miss the train, I didn’t even-“

Even before she had finished, Avalanche had recognized her voice. By now, he’d recognize her anywhere.

“PINECONE?”

“Avalanche…”

For one little moment, they just stared at each other in confusion, the obvious question of what the other was doing here clearly etched onto their faces. Then Avalanche's gaze drifted down to the letter that had scattered together with Pinecone’s and his knocked over luggage and he got an odd sense of a dejavú. Two identical letters were laying next to each other, both addressed to one of them, both from Piston Peak.

“NO WAY…”

Pinecone looked as if her jaw had unhooked itself and was permanently glued to the floor. Then, after a few seconds of awkwardly staring at each other, she burst into small giggles.

“I can’t believe it…”

Avalanche couldn’t either, though he wasn’t quite sure yet if she was mad at him or not.

“All this time we fight and for what?”

By now she was wheezing.

“They could have just told us they would hire more than one person… Man, that would have saved us a lot of trouble!”

This time it was Avalanche who was left jaw-slacked.

“YOU’RE NOT MAD?”

Pinecone looked like she was going to fall over with the force of her laughter shaking her.

“Of course not, you idiot! You’re one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met! I’m just mad we wasted all this time being rivals instead of just sitting down and having a friendly conversation for once.”

“OH.”

They stayed silent after that, awkwardly avoiding each other’s gazes.

_ That’s right. We know next to nothing of each other. _

It was Pinecone who broke the silence as she slowly started gathering her belongings while watching the corridor.

“Well, seeing how we’re going to the same place and it’ll be a while until we get there, what do you say we find ourselves a cabin and get to that friendly chat we should have had years ago?”

Avalanche could see she was aiming for a nonchalant, cool appearance but he could see her nervousness shimmering beneath the façade. 

_ Intriguing… _

He hadn’t thought he’d ever see the normally so sure looking raketool digger so uncertain.

“SURE.”

As they headed down the corridor they quickly found an empty cabin and somehow managed to squeeze their luggage into the way too small compartments. After that they both collapsed into their seats, staying silent despite the promise of actually getting to know each other. For the first time, Avalanche took the time to really look at Pinecone. She was beautiful, that much he had acknowledged when they first met. But now that he was taking the time to really look he could see the tired look in her eyes, the scuff marks in her paint that spoke of hard work and the way that she held herself. Defiant. Not confident, defiant. She looked in no way weak, quite the opposite of it, but there was an underlying hardness that he had only ever seen when helping some of the homeless mechanisms around his neighborhood. The thought that she could be coming from a similar situation didn’t sit well with him.

“Do I have something on my face or am I just that interesting?”

Startled at being caught staring Avalanche answered without thinking, causing Pinecone to blush at the blunt honesty.

“DEFINITELY INTERESTING.”

“Well, if that’s the case, how about you just ask me?”

There it was again, that barely-there hesitation, but now that he was actively looking for it, Avalanche immediately noticed.

“OR YOU COULD ASK ME. SEEMS ONLY FAIR SINCE I TECHNICALLY STARTED ALL OF THIS…”

Pinecone looked surprised at that before a cheeky grin took over her face.

“Oh, so you finally admit it! You started it!”

Avalanche chuckled. _ Well, technically I did. If I hadn’t blocked your way to the mailbox things might have been different. _ But they weren’t and Avalanche was kind of glad about that. He had no idea what to expect of his future team but at least he would have one person he got along with as a colleague.

“Alright, Avalanche, I guess I’ll start with the obvious. Why did it have to be Piston Peak?”

Avalanche didn’t hesitate with that one. 

“I KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE TO FEEL ALONE. AND I WAS PRETTY SURE THAT THEY ALL FELT THAT AFTER… WELL, THE TRAGEDY HAPPENED. AND CALL ME A FOOL, BUT I WANTED TO HELP THEM.”

“That’s a noble reason.”

“WHAT ABOUT YOU?”

Avalanche got the feeling that the reason had something to do with that underlying hardness that he was pretty sure just acted as a shield for an even deeper lying sadness.

“It’s all I have left from my past. My creators left me a photograph of the Piston Peak team when they dumped me in front of an orphanage. It’s too vague to actually be a clue to who they are but it’s… Well, I don’t know, I guess I just followed where it lead because I had nowhere else to go and that was as good an option as any…”

_ Oh… _

Avalanche didn’t dare ask any further, though deep down he felt there was more to that story. The silence that befell them was heavy and bordering on awkward but he had no idea how to break it. In the end, Pinecone broke it for him, eyes hidden as she looked out the window.

“When we didn’t get a reply for so long I was this close to giving up, to just finding another station that could hire me. I even went to a few interviews. I met someone there and we got pretty close. He ended up my fiance. And then he vanished… No trace to be found, nothing. For all I know he could have been an agent or something. And then Piston Peak was all I had left again… Well, and you, of course… Thanks for helping me with the move that day by the way. I think I would have fallen apart if it hadn’t been for our little rivalry. So I guess I owe you… Big time.”

Avalanche gulped. He had no idea what he could say to that. He had never expected that something like that had been the reason she had moved into his neighborhood.

“YOU’RE WELCOME…”

She gave him a small smile. To his surprise the smile was genuine.

“Feels like a lifetime ago.”

He took the statement for what it was, a clear signal to change the topic.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY’LL BE LIKE?”

“Don’t know. All I know is that there’s two more of us and that at least one of them, by all accounts, should be heavily traumatized.”

Avalanche nodded. That part was actually making him nervous. It may have been his reason for applying, but he had no idea how to actually treat them once he got there.

_ How does one behave around trauma victims? Should I just act as if I knew of nothing? Should I be careful? _

He had no idea. Pinecone seemed to sense his unease and sent him a reassuring smile.

“I’m sure they’re all going to be very nice. I don’t think they would have hired _ us _after all this time if they weren’t.”

Avalanche found himself returning her smile, feeling at least a little reassured.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it, we're already at the end again... Pinecone and Avalanche finally get to Piston Peak.
> 
> Enjoy :)

After reaching Piston Peak they were left in the middle of the forest next to the train tracks. The train had apologized and told them that she wasn’t currently allowed to go any further because of a restoration project that included her usual station. It left them with no choice but to haul their luggage up the mountain and to the Air Attack. By the time they got there, both were a little exhausted.

“That is one steep hill…”

Pinecone was panting and Avalanche could only nod. His eyes were fixed on the center space in which they could see two Smokejumpers racing each other. 

“LOOKS LIKE NOBODY NOTICED US COMING…”

Pinecone snorted as both mechanisms came to a screeching halt, heads whipping around to stare at them.

“Uh, hi.”

_ Well, this is awkward… _

For one moment, the scene seemed to be frozen before the car, Dynamite, suddenly started laughing. The saw-car, Blackout, shot an amused glance toward a hangar near a cliff.

“Hey, Blade! You gave us the wrong pickup time! The newbies are here and they had to haul everything up the mountain themselves!”

In the distance she heard the sound of something shattering, causing Blackout’s smile to grow a little teasing as he regarded Dynamite.

“Do you  _ want _ to run extra drills?”

Dynamite snorted before turning to them, a friendly smile on her face and an excited gleam in her eyes.

“I’m Dynamite, the captain of this no-longer-a-duo-but-wow-we’re-an-actual-team-now. And this is Blackout, my second.”

Her smile widened.

“It’s good to finally have some new faces around here! Don’t get me wrong, the team is awesome, but we waited for reinforcements for so long…”

“WE KNOW. IT’S GOOD TO BE HERE.”

“And we are glad to have you.”

At the new voice, all heads whipped around to stare at the new arrival.

_ Wow… The infamous Blade Ranger… _

Pinecone couldn’t help the small bubble of excitement that grew within her as she regarded her new chief. The helicopter stared right back, expression hard and mouth pressed into a thin line.

“You will be sharing a hangar as a team, Dynamite, I expect you’ll show them everything they need?”

At the car’s nod the helicopter continued, voice not quite cold, but strictly professional.

“You two will have a week of downtime to get used to your surroundings and our specific procedures. You will also need to get a GPS chip, our mechanic will see to it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. And do ask, I’d rather not have any misunderstandings in the field.”

With that the helicopter turned around, the ‘Dismissed’ echoing in the resulting silence. Dynamite and Blackout shared a look before the car shot them a smile again, albeit this time it was a little strained.

“Don’t mind him. He’s not usually this cold. He’s a good chief. He’s just not… good with strangers…”

Out of the corner of her eye Pinecone saw the helicopter being pulled into a building by a forklift that looked decidedly unhappy. According to Dynamite’s slightly worried look she had seen it too. Before Pinecone could ask what was going on though, they were being ushered away from the center space and towards a hangar.

“Come on, I’ll show you where we live. Blackout, will you take their bags?”

The saw-car nodded, quickly getting to work, only to drop everything again as he jumped out of the way of a very excited plane that had seemingly miscalculated the space she needed to come to a stop.

“Whoops, sorry Blackout. Hey Dynamite, are these our new teammates?”

The plane’s voice was practically radiating with excitement.

“I’m Dipper! Sorry, I’m a little excited!”

Pinecone couldn’t help but laugh, the excitement easily infecting her.

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Pinecone.”

“AND I’M AVALANCHE!”

At Avalanche’s yelling, another plane came towards them, followed by a helicopter.

“Ah, just in time. Pinecone, Avalanche, meet our drop plane, Cabbie! And of course, our resident instinct-magician, Windlifter!”

The helicopter simply raised an eyelid at the introduction before offering the two of them a nod. Cabbie, however, surprised her by gathering both her and Avalanche into a short but warm hug.

“Welcome to the team. It’s good to have you.”

The hug felt nice. It reminded her of how her caretaker had used to hold her. It was a pleasant surprise. Even more so when both Dynamite and Blackout joined the hug.

“Aww, got room for any more?”

The red forklift that had just joined them was quietly laughing.

“Sorry Patch, Smokejumpers only!”

Blackout’s voice held a certain mirth, earning him a funny look from Cabbie as he let the Smokejumpers go again.

“This is our communications officer.”

“Hi!”

Patch was practically beaming as she rolled over and gave both of them a high-five. 

“About time you showed up! These two here were giving me way too much trouble on their own!”

Cabbie snorted at Dynamite’s indignant huff. 

“She’s right about that. Maybe now I won’t have to keep my whole assembly at the ready every time the two of you go out.”

The forklift Pinecone had seen whisking their chief away earlier joined them, now wearing a smirk as he regarded the two Smokejumpers who actually looked a little guilty.

_ Huh… Looks like this team has a pendant for dangerous situations… _

“Well, I trust you two to keep an eye on them.”

“SIR, YES SIR!”

They all started laughing at Avalanche’s enthusiastic reply.

“Now, what do you say we get your stuff to your rooms and then we have a little race. Loosen up a little after the long journey?”

“Do you even like racing?”

Both Pinecone and Avalanche snorted in unison.

“Is there anybody who doesn’t?”

The answer was everybody shooting a pointed glance in the general direction of their chief, followed by a round of giggles. The atmosphere was relaxed, if a little excited. And it generally stayed that way, even though things turned a little awkward during the first team trainings where Dynamite and Blackout had to get used to functioning in a team again. Another team. But both she and Avalanche could understand why it was hard on them after the initial excitement had passed. And by the time the first month was over, they were deeply integrated into the team as a whole. It was like the long lost feeling of home that she hadn’t felt since being 170.


End file.
